


Prodigal files: Carter

by Domenika Marzione (domarzione)



Series: Prodigal [4]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-28
Updated: 2011-08-28
Packaged: 2017-10-23 03:33:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/245834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/domarzione/pseuds/Domenika%20Marzione
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three things make a story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prodigal files: Carter

1 – Jack calls her during the day on her cell phone, which is enough to make her wary since Jack _never_ calls her on her cell phone during the day. If he needs to speak to Colonel Carter, he knows what her extension is in the labs. If he wants to talk to _Sam_ , he'll call at night when there's a half-decent chance she'll be home. They're not yet comfortable enough with this _thing_ , whatever it is and is not, to blur the lines.

“You think you can make it out this weekend?” he asks and she almost wants to ask what's wrong, what happened, because she can hear the weariness in his voice and she knows, whatever this is, it's bad.

“Probably,” is what she does say. “We're not going anywhere until Tuesday unless the Ori do something exceptionally stupid.”

And maybe not even then, since Landry's still pissed at Cam for nearly getting himself killed and Vala for a half-dozen things Sam knows better than to ask about.

“Good,” is the reply and she's not sure what to read into the lack of relief in his voice.

  
2 – It's both better and worse than she expected, which had been everything up to 'I'm dying.' But Jack's not the one dying – Azem is. And from there things don't really improve. She understands why they need to keep the SGC ignorant, why they can't tell Cam or Daniel or Teal'c, why Lorne did what he did, and none of that understanding will get them anywhere. Another mole and that it's a Goa'uld instead of a human snake makes this harder.

“Can you solve this?” Jack asks after it's just them again.

She rolls her shoulders as she stares at the data on the laptop. Lorne gave them all of his and Azem's notes, which are useful but not enough to give them a neat solution. “Eventually, yeah,” she says, since she's sure she can. “Before someone else dies? I don't know.”

He doesn't offer her platitudes, just coffee.

Hours later, her eyes burn from reading, but she's almost in that headspace where she can see possible connections like ethereal Venn diagrams, past projects overlapping to form a chain of causation that leads to whatever's got Goa'uld infiltrating the SGC _this_ time.

“You'd think Lorne would know better,” Jack says, the first words between them in a long time. He's sitting on the other end of the couch, his own laptop and pile of folders nearby. Jack doing administrative work has never stopped looking weird.

“Lorne and Azem have known each other for years,” she replies, closing her eyes and wishing they'd tear. Or that Jack believed in Visine. “You'd trust Bra'tac.”

“Not to take up occupancy in my head,” Jack retorts, an edge to his voice. She knows there's a tiny part of him that has never forgiven any of them for the blending with Kanan, never forgiven _Sam_ because he knew Jolinar never stopped making her hurt and she'd still agreed on his behalf. But his grudges and his anger don't work like hers do and she's grateful for that.

She still knows that they'll both wake up with nightmares tonight from their own time as hosts.

  
3 – Cam is more angry at her than she thought he'd be when he finds out, Daniel less. Landry is another matter entirely. It's over now and there are apologies to be made, relationships to reinforce, trust to earn back. But right now, all she can think about is the one apology she doesn't have to make. Jack meets her eyes as he passes by on his way to see Holden; she promised him that she'd keep Holden alive, that they wouldn't have to bury another one. And on this day with so much damage – lives lost, the program's secrecy endangered – it's one bright spot that they can cling to.


End file.
